♪ ♪ >> welcome to "daybreak australia." i am haidi stroud-watts in sydney. >> and i am shery ahn in new york, counting down to asia's major market opens. ♪ haidi: wall street closes flat as the equity rally runs out of steam. treasuries climb again. sterling under pressure as theresa may's move opens the door to a much softer brexit. and the imf and wto are

increasingly pessimistic about global growth. a check of the markets. most u.s. stocks managed to finish up from lowe's. tech shares leading with the nasdaq gaining zero point 25%. s&p 500 unchanged. interesting that energy was one of the biggest decliners on the markets, despite the fact oil topped $62 per barrel, landing at the highest level of the year, surpassing the 200 day moving average. the dow fell for the fourth time in four days. let's see how we are setting up in asia. haidi: in australia, we are getting underway in the next hour. new zealand is trading already. it really is about digesting the rba, which continues to warn about the potential shock to the household wealth effect from the property markets, but also the 2019 budget delivered by the government, really aimed at ahead of the

election, pledging fiscal spending, tax cuts and a projected return to surplus for the australian economy. taking a look at how we are trading in new zealand, pretty 67.64.wn, kiwi dollar at straight day of gains yesterday, matching a record set in 2018. looking at a potential seventh day of gains, futures up 0.5% when cash trading starts in sydney. aussie dollar holding steady, the, not much reaction to budget as the analysis continues. one key takeaway, more fiscal spending from the government will give a bit more breathing space to the rba to stay on hold. the market prices in two rate cuts for the rest of 2019. let's get you first word news with jessica summers.

jessica: the u.k. prime minister theresa may is turning to labour opposition in a last ditch attempt to find a brexit deal for parliament. she wants jeremy corbyn to work with her to prevent deadlock and prevent the country from crashing out of the e.u. without an agreement. a softer brexit would potentially keep the country inside the customs union and even the single market. >> i am taking action to break the logjam. i am willing to sit down with the leader of the opposition and agree to a plan that we can both stick to, that we leave the european union and we do so with a deal. >> the deal doesn't mean that they will be no disruption, or that it will be smooth. there are big problems. allg prepared means that

unforeseen problems should be manageable on the e.u. side. jessica: top republican mitch mcconnell is warning president trump's threat to close the border with mexico would have a potentially catastrophic impact on the u.s. the president made that threat last week, but has not acted since, saying he is pleased with steps mexico is taking to stop migrants moving north, but he reaffirmed he's ready to close the border if he has to. in the u.s. fell 2% in the first three months of the year, another sign the economy is touching a break. most automakers saw declining demand as the euphoria of last year's tax cuts wore off. general motors releases results on a quarterly basis, and says sales slumped across all four brands. fiat chrysler, nissan and toyota all saw sales falling in march and down year today. thelong-awaited trial of former malaysian prime minister begins, and there is a long list

of charges linked to the 1mdb missing money scandal. lightse will also shine a on the complex transactions that led to the disappearance of at least $4.5 billion. denies any-- najib wrongdoing. global news 24 hours a day and at tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. this is bloomberg. haidi: thank you. wto are increasingly pessimistic about global growth. shery: they warned that momentum has been lost since the start of the year. the wto cut trade growth projections for 2019 to the lowest in three years, ciuting -- citing the rising impact of protectionism and the trade war. stephen engle has more on this. the second consecutive year they are paring back expectations. stephen: we are hearing the imf

is likely to cut again, the growth forecast. christine lagarde saying it has weakened more since the last update in january, and in january there was another cut from a previous slashing of the growth outlook just three months prior. we get the next official outlook on april 9 from the imf, but doesn't necessarily look good from christine lagarde's perspective. she was speaking at the u.s. chamber of commerce in washington, d.c., and said we are in a precarious position for the global economy. global growth has lost momentum, sinceys, and it weakened the last imf update in january. this is what she had to say at the u.s. chamber in d.c. >> we do not see a recession in the near-term. in fact, we expect some pickup in growth in the second half of 2019, and into 2020. you see now what i mean by

unsettled. indeed, the global economy is at a delicate moment. stephen: so no recession, but we are at a delicate moment, the words christine lagarde is saying. in january, i mentioned them cutting the outlook, they lowered growth projections to 3.5% for 2019, 3.6% for 2020. it was the imf's second cut in outlook in three months. as i said, the new outlook is out on april 9. the wto also slashing its outlook for growth, to the lowest level in three years. the intact, of course, of what it called rising commercial tensions and tariffs. that's trade war. it will slow to 2.6%, world merchandise trade growth, according to the wto in 2019, and 3% in 2020. it was 3% in 2018. director said it is

increasingly urgent we resolve tensions and focus on charging -- charting a positive path forward for global trade. haidi: in the meantime, we are seeing signs of stabilization. too earlyonomy, is it to talk about whether authority should stop easing? stephen: that's the question leading to debate. we have had economic indicators showing the growth decline, if you will, has pretty much bottomed out. we are also later, on april 17 be get first quarter gdp figures that will give a good check of the chinese economy. keep in mind, the bottoming out fed bydecline has been stimulus, most prominently by cuts at banks. most analysts expect another toee triple-r cuts at banks further support growth in the chinese economy. however, we are hearing in an interview with the former

director of the pboc statistics and analysis department, he tells the economic information daily that the risk of asset bubbles is rising because of that boost in liquidity. he says cutting reserve ratios when the economy is already stabilized can put inflation higher, and guide a large amount of that funding into the property market. authorities are of course always worried about rising inflation, and particularly asset bubbles in property. still, even though the growth decline has bottomed out, we have weakness in the chinese economy. the producer price index, by most surveys, is expected to rise only 0.6% in 2019. when you have low factory inflation, that also affects companies' abilities to generate profit and also pay back debt. haidi: steve engle for us, going through the latest as we continue to watch for further signs of green shoots from the

chinese economy. australian prime minister scott morrison hopes sweeping tax cuts announced in tuesday's budget will help sway disgruntled voters in the upcoming election. they also anticipated australia's first budget surplus in more than a decade, which should handle morrison more ammunition ahead of the vote in may. paul allen is in canberra covering this for us. a surplus for the coming year, but is the budget actually ever going to see the light of day? it's only going to get enacted if the government wins the election, which will probably be sometime in the middle of next month. so apart from a couple emergency measures for pensioners, none of this will be enacted before the the day, but it didn't stop budget from being read in the house, the treasurer proud of what he is achieving in the coming surplus. listen to what he had to say -- >> the budget is back in the black, and australia's back on

track. [cheering] [applause] >> hear hear. >> for the third time in 12 years, our nation is again paying its own way. we have made real progress, but we know the job is not done. back in black, almost. that is next year. this year, there is still a deficit of $4.1 billion, but the projected deficit for 2019-2020, $7.1 billion and rising to over $17 billion in 22 anyone-22. $158 billion of tax relief in the next 10 years, for small companies earning less than $50 million, the tax rate drops to 25%. low to middle income earners

$126,000 can0 to be eligible for tax relief each year. shery? shery: is that actually enough theure voters and get government reelected, though? paul promise, vote for us and you will get $1000. the opposition will say putting much the same thing, tax cuts in their election manifesto as well. but the government here is really banking on its record for fiscal management and is counting on voters forgetting the last six years of dysfunction, which have seen tony abbott cut down as prime minister, and then malcolm turnbull cut down as prime minister, and we are on our third treasurer as well. even if this budget is enacted, there are risks. the iron ore price needs to stay

at $50 per ton. that seems quite reasonable. wages growth also seems t to have to be 1%, which seems a little optimistic. we just heard from christine lagarde of the imf, saying the global economy is in a delicate state, something the reserve bank of australia has been warning about, and even the treasurer josh freudenberg -- g rydenberg. the budget has been hit by flood and drought, one of the reasons they are not in surplus this year, rather next year. we will probably have an election date announced this week, and then off to the polls for the big decision to be made. haidi: paul allen there in canberra, the morning after the budget. still ahead, we help you make sense of an up-and-down day in u.s. stocks. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: we are counting down to the start of trading in australia, with futures looking optimistic, looking to carry on six straight days of gains in aussie stocks. looking at a beautiful clear picture of melbourne. of ad not see much reaction in the aussie dollar to the budget unveiled by the government overnight. voters withppeasing tax cuts and spending plans. i'm haidi stroud-watts here in sydney. shery: and i am shery on in new york. returning to the u.s. close, a seesaw session for stocks, the thirding lower for the time in four days, but the nasdaq closed higher. su keenan has more. cautious optimism? su: k lot of investors is trying to digest, just coming off the

strongest first quarter for stocks in almost a decade, and it looks like we are starting the second quarter that way. the market snapshot, the nasdaq 100 was an area of strength, particularly late in the day. the s&p and nasdaq closed higher. oil coming off the high of the day, near $63, the highest we have seen this year. let's go to a market picture here. game-changer, what this is called, and gtp is where you can find the library of charts. gtv is where you can find the library of charts. west texas intermediate is nearly 200 a moving average, a very bullish signal, and that shows a 30% year-to-date gain in west texas intermediate, it has room to run. strong,about tech being and we saw it in these usual suspects, widely held on main street and wall street alike.

some of the big movers. walgreens is one of the banner stories of the day. try torted it's going to engage in over $1 billion of cuts, because of the fact it's pressure, like a lot of the health care retail industry, right eight, cvs -- rite-aid, cvs. wynn resorts up surprisingly for a second day after strong resorts in macau, despite a big bearish story on sexual harassment allegations doing to do with its owner and founder. gamestop down in a very big way on an after-hours outlook that was very grim, and some say could bode negatively for a lot of highly valued ipo's yet to come through the chute that have an alliance with some of the tech issues gamestop is dealing

with. again meanwhile, bitcoin up 25% from the low. people can't agree on what the catalyst was, but there's one interesting theory. su: an april. ool's theory. you can see, it's skyrocketing. if we go into just the five-day chart, you can see it was up over 20%. one blogger was saying, bitcoin is back! but if you look at the big picture, you can see it is still a bear market, and there is speculation april fool's jokes out on the internet that the sec bitcoin,etf's for which is not the case, may have sparked a big part of buying, and automated buying that was stopped subsequently. we shall see. back to theenan,

volatility for crypto again. let's look at more of what we are watching, with adam haigh. what were the main takeaways from the australian budget? adam: make no mistake, relatively limited impact across most, fx, bond and equity markets. but if you were to pick out one area, it would be what they are saying about the tax relief, the energy payment. but of course, as paul allen made clear earlier, the budget may never see the light of day. we may have a change of government in the not-too-distant future. it might be some help to an economy already struggling from a consumer point of view. the rba, yesterday they were very clear about the impact on consumer spending from declining house prices continues to be one of the big themes for them. they're moving to more of an easigng bias.

at the margin, maybe the coalition continuing in government a little further, returning the budget is surplus. the chart shows it, how the forecasts work out. you may get some relief at the margin for the consumer sector. but it really comes down to the consumer in australia. that's ultimately what will be governing the policy over the next 6-12 months, but also what they do on the monetary side as well. the rba is now in a very tricky situation, where the markets have pretty much already priced in 25 basis points of cuts, so they are looking for anything else on the fiscal side to help them give the consumer a little bit of an extra leg up to keep the economy propped up. shery: when it comes to broader market moves,, we are seeing encouraging signs in corporate revenues. how is that setting up for the next reporting season? shery, remember that this

is against the backdrop that has been incredibly gloomy, especially in the u.s. people really ratcheted down expectations going into the start of this year, and even through a lot of the early months of the year, but now what we are seeing is a sudden pickup in revenue projections for s&p 500 companies, and specifically what they are talking about is the overseas revenue growth, which is likely not as hard-hit as many expected, which does perhaps tell you something about how investors are considering the global growth slowdown. whyas been a key theme, money has been flowing into bonds, and why there has been a huge move lower in sovereign bond yields, but also why stocks have kind of pushed, got that g ood gain in the early part of the year, but then struggled somewhat. so if we do see a follow-through in earnings and the revenue picking up, that may a little

for the bulls to hang their hats on. haidi: bloomberg global markets editor adam haigh, here in india. plenty more to come -- here in sydney. plenty more to come on "daybreak australia." this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ haidi: the australian government has vowed sweeping tax relief in its last pre-election budget. the finance minister told me earlier the budget is based on reasonable assumptions. >> the budget is based on conscious, credible assumptions. if you look at performance against the budget, we materially outperformed our budget forecast, because those budgets were also on realistic assumptions. employment growth has been running on the long-term trend. the expectation is that in the context of low unemployment, as reduces, things will pick

up, and that is reflected in the forecast. haidi: there are a lot of concerns, not just in australia but in other developed economies, that the phillips curve isn't working. you are seeing robust markets everywhere from u.s. to australia to japan, but nowhere is that going through to wage growth. before the budget was released, we heard from the rba governor expressing the same concerns debt, low wages. is there a disconnect between what the reserve bank is thinking and what the government is thinking? >> not at all. our forecast assumptions are consistent with what the central bank is saying here. the truth is, every year for the last few years, journalists and analysts have asked these questions, and every year we have said that our assumptions are credible, realistic and cautious. and indeed, the proof is in the

pudding. every final budget outcome since 2016 has been better than forecast. in this current financial year, we are tracking ahead of the forecast from the budget last year when it comes to underlying cash balances. one of thester, biggest concerns for voters, as well as the reserve bank, is the impact on the property -- of the property market on household spending, the ability of people to consume. given the tax cuts pledged in this budget will take years to roll out, is there more immediate of a way we can look at the budget as helping voters and the economy? >> well, our plan for income tax relief is part of a broader national economic plan. it's not just a cash handout. it is part of a national economic plan, to make the economy stronger and ensure that hard-working families in australia have the right incentive and encouragement to

work hard, and that it builds on the 144 billion dollars of income tax relief we announced in last year's budget and subsequently legislated. this is the next installment. haidi: australian finance minister, speaking with me earlier. ♪ so with xfinity mobile

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aussie markets coming online in just about 30 minutes. futures looking pretty optimistic, looking to continue six days of gains for aussie markets on this winning streak, since late 2018. investors digesting the implications of this proposed budget from their government, looking for more money for voters. consumer stocks, retailers in the spotlight today. i am haidi stroud-watts in sydney. shery: and i am shery on a new york. let's get first word news with jessica. jessica: thanks, shery. the imf and wto are increasingly

pessimistic about global growth, warning momentum has been lost since the start of the year. christine lagarde says the economy has weakened since the last forecast, but recession isn't likely in the near term. growth slashed projections for 2019 to its lowest in three years, citing the rising impact of protectionism and the trade war. indian companies that have fallen behind on loan repayments may be able to breathe earlier. the country over timed -- overturned an r.b.i. ruling on paymentys, and business owners returnve more time to even after loans become overdue. india has the worst bad rounds ratio of the top 10 world economies. the veteran prime minister of algeria has finally stepped down, leaving the role after the

head of the army said he should go without delay. the 82-year-old has been in power for 20 years and has wanted a new five-year term. it's unsure if his departure will be enough to calm demonstrators, whose demands have widened to include the removal of the entire algerian ruling elite. goldman sachs ceo david solomon is visiting saudi arabia, the first head of a u.s. bank known to go to the kingdom since the international furor over the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi last year. saudi arabia has recently offered some of the world's largest transactions. global news 24 hours a day, on air and at tictoc on twitter powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts. i'm jessica summers. this is bloomberg. haidi: thank you. politics makes strange bedfellows, but theresa may has

taken things to a whole new level. unable to persuade hardline tories to support her brexit toan, she's turning opposition leader jeremy corbyn to try to forge a deal. kathleen hays has more details. in essence, it is about time. will this get a brexit deal? kathleen: the clock is ticking. that is one of the things putting pressure on theresa may, who can't get enough members of her own party, so she has had to turn to jeremy corbyn. a bit of a surprise. she had a cabinet meeting in the morning that went for about seven hours, and came out with a very tersely worded but effective announcement -- >> i am taking action to break the logjam. i am offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition, and to try to agree on a plan that we would both stick to, to ensure that we leave the european union, and that we do so with a deal. kathleen: in the long cabinet meeting, when less than half of

her cabinet ministers were on board with going for a softer brexit, with a customs union, she still moved more to that side away from the hardlineeers, realizing they need more time to avoid a hard brexit. let's look at the cross party plan for how they will move ahead. negotiations with jeremy corbyn, the head of the labour party, to make sure britain leaves the e.u. with a deal. that would then be put the parliament, and then the prime minister would take it to a e.u. summit on april 10 to be signed off. if they cannot come to a deal, they will put forward a number of options for the future relationship between the u.k. and e.u. for the house of commons to vote on again, and the government would promise to deliver what parliament decides. legislation would follow to allow the u.k. to leave the e.u. , and avoid the need to take part in european elections next month. why is this so important in terms of timing? the e.u. has given the u.k.

and if they don't come up with something, they will vote in that election, which neither side wants. some people in the e.u. are concerned that if the u.k. is involved, they might vote for some very anti-e.u. hardliners of their own. what sort kathleen, of reaction have we seen from this approach from theresa may, especially from jeremy corbyn? have they gone from rivals to frienemies? kathleen: politics, right? he welcomed this. he seems open to try something. he has been working for a second referendum. will that be on the table? one thing that might be on the table, he brought up early today -- >> we hold in reserve our right to bring a motion of no confidence in the government, if the government proves it is incapable of commanding a majority in the house of commons. but our responsibility as the

opposition is to make sure we don't crash out, and i believe to make sure we have a government that commands a majority in the house and does indeed command majority support across the country. kathleen: analysts say some of corbyn's demands could be politically problematic for theresa may, splitting the conservative party. he has been repeating demands to stay in the customs union, and enhanced worker and environmental protections are also part of his demand. let's maybe take theresa may at her word, when she said at the end of her statement today, the debate cannot carry long -- carry on longer, we need national unity to deliver national interest. as for the e.u. reaction, the chief e.u. brexit negotiator said, better late than never. he does applaud this move for the parties to work together, but everyone is waiting to see if they can really pull something off. haidi: economics and policy

editor kathleen hays. nothing surprises us at this point with brexit developments. [laughter] let's take a look at japanese auto stocks, after the latest u.s. car sales were out for march and the first quarter. doesn't necessarily mean the data was actually any good. ramy innocencio is here to explain. a bit of a disconnect. ramy: not so much a disconnect, but the expectation that things would be worse than they were. they beat estimates across the board, but the estimates were still negative and expecting contraction. we can show you just what actually contracted. fiat chrysler really, down more than 7%, the analyst estimate down more than 6%. but beats for toyota, honda and nissan, looking at the share price popping, because they were all better-than-expected. toyota, a contraction, -3.5%.

the estimated drop was larger. honda was the only one to actually do better-than-expected, staying in the green, up more than 4% there . but make no mistake, this is not a very good environment here. we have been talking about the u.s. economy, the slowing growth here. u.s. gdp growth in the first quarter, 1.5%, actually the lowest in three years according to bloomberg surveys. there are some signs of a floor. we know the fed is on hold. says auto loan interest is rising at a 10 year high, 6.4% in march, after being in the 5% range last year and 4% two years ago. sedans, there are signs of bottoming out. another positive, honda in the last months on growth of 5.3% , and they say this could be a ze, therom the big si

suv's and trucks we have seen over the last several years. take a look at the next chart here. we are seeing this contraction on every single brand on the screen except the ram pickup, that's from fiat chrysler. toyota, nissan, all seeing shrinkage. interestingly, while fiat chrysler saw a miss in year on year change, it saw the biggest pop, up 1.2%, in large part because of what we see on that screen, the ram pickup. shery: how about electric cars? ramy: not so much news here. saying thing from ford, that we do see more growth in terms of the lineup, in regards to fully charged vehicles as well as partially charged vehicles. >> we think that by the middle of the next decade, it will be

50% of vehicles sold electrified to some degree. and we think that probably in 2025, something on the order of 20% of the fleet will be fully battery electric. ramy: that was ford europe chairman steve armstrong. on the bloomberg terminal quickly, this is the breakout for the market share for e.v. sales to 2040. here we are in 2019, and the blue, the biggest chunk is with sales chinese e.v. maximizing in 2022 and starting to shrink, but still the lion's share. the u.s. stagnant in 19 percentage when he percent market share all the way through 2040, according to bloomberg. europe, where the chairman is based of course, still doesn't change so much. the growth we are seeing in the rest of the world. in green, india rising more until 2040. korea not doing so well here.

india expanding, but only by a hair's breadth. e.v. sales will continue to be a bigger slice of the pie. by the year 2033, they predict e.v. cars will overtake combustion engines. shery: coming up next, over the horizon. blackrock looks to growth as part of a management overhaul. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: i am haidi stroud-watts in sydney. shery: i and shery ahn in new york. you are watching daybreak australia. an alert on the bloomberg. the nomination of an sec commissioner, a former aide to the commissioner,

replacing her former boss. bes is allison herren lee to fcc commissioner, a nomination that has to go through congress. haidi: the world's largest asset manager is looking to grab an even bigger piece of the world. blackrock announced a sweeping reorganization charting a path for growth beyond the u.s., and more towards china and latin america. massaerg reporter annie fathers blackrock. walk us through these changes and -- follows blackrock. walk us through these changes and what they mean. annie: the changes put more power in the regional heads ast blackrock. institutional client businesses are reporting to the regional heads, showing they are trying to concentrate more power across the various regional leaders across the globe. haidi: what does the

reorganization mean for the alternatives business? annie: the alternatives business is something blackrock has been focusing on. right now, alternative like private equities account to only 2% of assets under management. but in the reorganization, they change leadership of the global alternative investment business, and it kind of coincides with them putting more focus on that piece of the business. of course, we know that blackrock is huge in index investing, a leader in etf's the global leader in etf's across the world, but alternatives offer a bit more return for investors, and those products are typically higher-fee, which might be one reason they look attractive to an indexing giant like blackrock. and of course all these questions over blackrock's reshuffling of management is because of the succession of larry fink. anymore idea on this?

annie: this is always a question. he is 66 now, and has been at the firm since he was cofounder. he's the ceo now. the question is always, who will succeed larry? a couple different contenders have emerged, but there is no clear one successor. advancedose contenders in a big way today, mark mccomb, who is becoming chief client officer, a newly-created position. but there are several different players. mark weidman, who advanced to an international strategy role earlier this year, taking on latin america in this reshuffling. so you are seeing a lot of different players moving into new roles, and it certainly sets up an exciting race to watch for the future. haidi: all right. bloomberg reporter annie massa, with the latest on the blackrock reshuffle.

also a reshuffle when it comes to the top at some tech companies. qualcomm's chief financial officer george davis, an announcement from the company saying he's leaving as of today. he has been their finance chief since 2013. he's going to take on a new role as executive vice president and chief financial officer at rival intel. davis, announced effective april 3, reporting to overseeingob swan, accounting, reporting, tax, treasury, et cetera he says he's thrilled to join the intel team. subsequently, we see the announcement from qualcomm he left after six years, thanking him and wishing him well on future endeavors. the wto has slashed its global trade growth prediction, citing

global uncertainties. the director general told us what is driving this bleecker forecast -- bleaker forecast. >> clearly a big portion of downward trade is due to increased uncertainties in the market. those uncertainties are holding back investments and so forth. the investments of course dampen numbers for trade. to a large extent, the u.s.-china tensions are the main source of that. of course, there are other elements of course. brexit is part of that, but not so much. the biggest chunk of uncertainty in the market is due to the u.s.-china tensions. >> ok. mr. director general, what we understand now is that the e.u. -united states trade talks have hit an impasse, not proceeding at this point in time. if those trade talks deteriorate further and we see tariffs applied to the car sector, to the auto sector, how much lower

do you think that 2019 number would be? significantly lower, i believe. because at this point in time, expectations in the market are that tensions are not going to be increasing anymore, that the u.s.-china conversations are going potentially in a good direction, and therefore the escalation of the tensions there is going to be withheld. otherwe have significantly disturbing signs in the market, which would include other players as well, autos including possibly japan, the e.u., korea. that is going to send some jitters in the market, and the effect can be found in a significant way. >> how much of the story we are experiencing at the moment that

is responsible for the downgrades you have put out today do you think are temporary, resolvable, and how much do you think is going to become now a permanent feature of the trading landscape? >> difficult to tell. it is clear that some of the underlying factors that surround the conversation, the tensions that we see out there, are not easy to resolve. haidi: wto director general roberto azevedo, speaking to us from geneva. if you missed part of that interview, the tv function you and watch t interviews and send us instant messages with your questions. this is bloomberg. ♪\

haidi: i am haidi stroud-watts

in sydney. shery: i am shery on in new york. you're are watching "daybreak australia." as we continue to see signs of a global economic slowdown, the ceo of dow chemical has told bloomberg the company's prepared to navigate economic concerns,, not to mention a ban on local plastic bags. take a listen. >> as a global company, we sell in many markets around the world, and certainly some high ticket items have slowed down, like automobile sales, construction slowing down. that impacts some of our infrastructure business. but we also sell about 70% of what we make in consumer products, so the consumer goods, durables, some of the consumer everyday items, have held up very well. they typically do during a slowdown. i think that as china comes back, you will see those numbers pick up. >> what is your forecast for china growth? >> i think as we look at it, about 6% this year for china growth. depending on the market segment,

could be a little different. >> how much are u.s. trade tensions with china, particularly tariffs which may escalate, contributing to the plastics decline? a well, i think plastics is growing marketplace. all plastics, it's a 400 million ton market, doubling the last decade, driven largely by sustainability factors. we are working on issues with plastic waste, but those are manageable in the grand scheme of things. >> some of what you just mentioned, the plastics waste, efforts on the part of states and federally to minimize single-use plastic bags, a new york just this week for example, that will impact your business. it is just 4% of your business, but how much are you allowing for more regulation to impact your business and margins going forward? >> some of the plastics that are used in areas like straws, grocery bags are not big markets

for us. in general, the total demand in plastics, it is not a huge amount of product. remember that plastics go into a lot of durable goods as well, andgs like automobiles consumer electronics. as we look at it, people are focusing on things they think are nuisances, nuisance bans, trying to send a message about the waste issue. i think if you tackle the waste issue, there is no need to really ban these materials. you need to get people in a better mindset from a consumer behavior standpoint, disposing of the products, putting them in recycling. i think that's a better alternative than banning. >> on polyethylene pricing, you have tried to raise prices each month of the first quarter, not so successfully. how do you manage to raise prices from here? >> what happened, at the end of 2018, as oil moved down 40%,

that compressed the margins around the world. and as china literally stayed out of the market the last two weeks of the year. seehe first quarter, we that prices have stabilized and volumes are coming back. we guided a little lower in the fourth quarter -- first quarter, the equivalent of one cent per pound on polyethylene, not a huge number, but that showed shareholders transparency of what we could see coming. as oil continues to be constructive, that typically helps prices move. as demand comes back in china with seasonal second quarter and third quarter demand, the strongest quarters, you will see pricing more constructive. chemical ceoas dow jim fiddling -- fitterling speaking to bloomberg. reviewys it will

investment plans with the u.k. in the event of a no deal brexit , posing serious questions about their long-term future in the u.k. the company launched a range of electric vehicles, including passenger cars and commercial vans. shery: executives at wynn reso rts hid allegations the founder and ceo sexily harassed women, according to investigators in -- sexually harassed women, according to investigators. they will decide whether to revoke his license. reports hedown after sexually harassed employees. he denied any relationships were non-consensual. haidi: reviewing a partnership with delta offer 11 years, american express's largest cobranded partner, representing a percent of the portfolio and 20% of loans. deltat of the agreement,

will continue to allow membership rewards to transfer to the loyalty programs. shery: plenty more ahead on "daybreak asia." we will be joined by the trade minister of malaysia. this is bloomberg. ♪ the biggest week in television is almost here.

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>> good morning. a story and markets have just opened for strayed -- us trillion markets have just opened for trade -- australian markets have just opened for trade. >> welcome to daybreak asia. ♪ top stories this wednesday, asia-pacific markets facing a mixed start. futures signal muted gains. pressure.der theresa may turns to labor